“I think that this would become a danger to me if I was to retain it and so I would ask that you consult someone who can move objects in time.” They were walking slowly and he had the shamrock quickly tucked into his hand.
“Why would you wish such a thing and where would you suggest that I place it?” He arched a dark brow at her over his golden eyes.
She smiled. “I believe that the precise day and time that my cousin first followed the rainbow as a young woman would be a good time and date. I have never understood why it appeared on that land, that day. I think if it was placed there, it would have plenty of energy to bring her to you in one way or the other.”
He stopped in place and stared at the fist hiding the pendant. Laughter broke from him and she left him alone after giving him a bright smile.
She made her rounds and greeted Elise, sitting with a group of Warders who were getting on in years themselves.
She sat next to the old human and said, “Thank you for what you taught him, Elise. It was a valuable lesson for him. He needed someone to take him outside of himself and while I abhor the reason, I cannot fault the result.”
Elise smiled. “He was always a good man. He just didn’t know how to show it.”
“But you gave him a reason to strive for better and he did it. Also, he has told me that you were the sacrificial experimenter with his cooking. His success is due to your fortitude, so thank you.”
“You are welcome. I see in you that you are his match. It is a good thing, he has been alone for far too long. Even among his own kind, he was alone and that is not a good thing.”
Elhara was going to speak some more, but Solar kissed Elise on the cheek and smiled. “I wish to steal my bride away before someone intervenes.”
Elise grinned and waved them off, returning to her conversation.
Solar led her across the dance floor and stopped short when his clan leader moved to cut them off. Therogan was a serious specimen of a demon, all dark scowls and horns. He gave Elhara a look that she didn’t like in the least.
“Well, Solar, it seems that you caught your Warder at last and all it cost us was a wedding present.” He smiled and bowed to Elhara.
Out of reflex, she extended her hand and she felt the press of sharp teeth as he kissed her knuckles.
“Thank you for attending our festivities, Lord Therogan. It was an honour to have you here. The demon community gets out so seldom.”
He raised his brows, “Few folk are so generous.”
“You can’t help what you need to eat. From joy to misfortune, there is always a creature who can use the energy.” She smiled tightly, holding to Solar’s hand with a strict focus.
“A very open-minded woman. You chose well, Solar. Several folk here have been terrified that I would consume their soul.”
Elhara looked at him, “You consume misery. Not souls. The difference should be stressed and now, if you don’t mind…my husband and I have abstained for this moment and I believe that it time to cease our self-control.”
Therogan laughed and waved for them to continue on their original path.
With heads high and laughter quickly returning to their eyes, Elhara smiled as they stopped in the centre of the dance floor, laughed their goodbyes and exhortations to enjoy the party and disappeared.
“Sneaking away from your own reception is a time-honoured tradition.” Elhara was busy working at the clasps that held Solar’s embroidered jacket closed. It was so-well fitted that it took some doing to get the clothing loose, but she managed it at long last.
A sneaking suspicion ran through her and she looked up into his midnight eyes. “This is real, right? I am not going to wake up in jeans with a wet crotch and nothing else?”
He laughed and cupped her jaw. “This is real. We will continue the blood ritual here and then we will lock down to spend time learning our physical reactions at our leisure.”
She backed away, “Continue the blood ritual?”
He chuckled. “Virginity is a laudable characteristic, but it does have a side effect during sex. Demons have used the power gained from virgins for centuries, but all I want from you is you.”
She laughed and trailed her fingers down his chest to the line of his trousers. “If the demons gained power, what did the virgins gain?”
He lifted her chin and lowered his lips to hers. “Let’s find out.”
Chapter Eleven
The bedroom was lined with candles, the sweet scent of beeswax and roses filled the air.
“Why can’t I figure out this clasp?” She worked and frowned at his trousers until he pulled her hands away.
“Because it isn’t for you to undress me. I am supposed to be undressing you.” He kissed each of her fingers before sliding his hand down her back. While looking into her eyes, he unravelled the ties that held her dress in place.
The silk sighed as it floated to the ground, leaving her in stockings, heels and a garter belt.
The low growl from Solar sent a ripple of heat through her belly and she bit her lip as she stared into his eyes, waiting for approval. He lifted her so that their faces were even and pressed his lips to hers with a ferocity that took her breath away.
Heat was lapping at her, sensitivity rippling along her limbs as his magic moved into and through her. She wrapped her legs around his waist and rocked against him, whimpering as he walked with her to the bed.
He tilted her and came down on top of her, rubbing his skin against hers in a slow caress. His red skin against her creamy white in a shocking contrast. Magic was spilling from him and running along her flesh, a secondary caress to the touch of his hands on her body.
The buildup of magic continued until it reached critical mass while he was nibbling his way across her breasts. Pleasure burst in a wave and she gasped, arching toward his mouth with her hands woven into his hair. His groan echoed hers and he disappeared for a moment, only to return with an intense look in his eyes.
She shifted her legs against his, the silk of her stockings rubbing against his thighs as he settled against her. The heat of his cock pressing at her opened her sex and with short, rocking thrusts of his hips, he worked into her, gaining entry in millimetres.
Elhara was gasping, staring into his eyes when a secondary pressure got her attention. Both of his hands were on hers, so what was pressing slowly into her ass?
She squirmed and he sent a wave of pleasure through her. This time, it was from him to her and she relaxed and pushed against the dual invasion.
As he reached her hymen, he paused. “Elhara, I do hereby take you as mine and I will treasure you for all of our lives together. Do you take me freely and without restraint?”
Elhara reached up and caressed his face. “Solariec, I take you freely and without restraint, for all of my days and beyond.”
He didn’t need to be told twice. He surged into her, breaking through her hymen and lodging firmly in both openings.
The pain flared and burned along her nerves, a ring of fire that brought tears to her eyes while it stole her breath.
Solar held still while the pain subsided, nuzzling at her temple and whispering words in an ancient language until she stopped sobbing. He shifted slightly and with the pain came a flaring pleasure, rocking her from the inside out.
He stroked her hair as his body moved against hers. A light string of kisses had her leaning up into the feathery caress while her body slowly responded to his once again.
Gasps turned to moans and her breath came faster when he increased the speed of his thrusts in a delicious friction. She cried out and deep inside her, an answering bucking of his shaft combined with a hoarse shout brought their first shared orgasm to her awareness. Instead of heat, she felt a cool splash inside her as he jerked his hips against her in a series of short pumps.
Lying under him, she smelled the scents of sex for the first time with a coppery overlay of her own blood. The crushed roses that clung to her skin gave a thick and heady aroma to their bed.
He rolled, shifted and lifted her in one slow motion, walking with her to the bathing room where the sunken tub was filled and covered with a layer of those same roses.
He sank into the tub with her still impaled on him, but the residual burn of what had to be an internal wound was now gone.
Leaning on his chest, she smiled up at him. “Two, huh?”
He grinned a little sheepishly. “I thought it might scare you off. I don’t always need to use both, but my pleasure is markedly increased if I do.”
She sighed and pressed her forehead against his skin. “It was a bit of a shock, but I do remember hearing something to this effect in my initial briefing on demons. I just thought that you guys were bragging.”
He chuckled. “No, not bragging. It is a hard thing to explain to a woman you want to take as a bonded mate for life. A casual encounter enjoys the novelty, but it wears off quickly for constant sex.”
She smirked. “We can occasionally do it with just one, right?”
He lifted and lowered her slowly. “If you insist, but give it a try before you reject it.”
Elhara dug her nails in his chest. “Freeze, skippy. I am not rejecting any part of you. I am simply new to this whole sex thing and want to ease into it.”
He sighed. “I forget how young you are.”
Solar ran his hand over her back and where his fingers touched, trails of tingly heat began to work outward in delicious spirals.
“Not everyone can have almost-unlimited life spans. What will you do when I die?”
He tilted her chin and pressed a kiss to her lips. “Like all men who wed Warders, I will follow you into the endless eternity where we will be rejoined to live forever in boundless joy.”
Tears leaked from her eyes as she looked at him. His sincerity burned through her and lit a light in her soul. “That is the nicest thing that anyone has ever said to me. I knew there was a reason that I love you so much.”
His cocks flexed inside her and he gave her a wicked smile. “It isn’t because of this?”
She used her grip on his shoulders to lift and lower herself over him. “It might be. We need to keep working on it. This is a development in progress.”
Solar cupped her hips and plunged deep. “Far be it from me to cease progress.”
Three weeks later, Elhara was hosting a housewarming at her new home. All of her possessions had been moved to Realm and she was now busy each day in the garden, working on the anniversary gift she had planned. The Solar rose was going to be amazing, if she could only get it to bloom.
She was wearing a shirt of a fairly opaque material. Once Solar had cued into her orgasmic reaction to being bitten, he had exploited her goblin sensitivity with an enthusiasm that left her breathless every time they got together. She was hoping that demons had dental, because she was almost bucking hard enough to break his teeth.
Asha raised her cup and said, “Well, El, you are looking healthy. Much better than the last time I saw you.”
Elhara scowled. “You saw me at my wedding.”
Asha grinned. “Before that, when the succubus was draining you dry. Have there been any additional difficulties with your in-laws?”
Elhara smiled. “Only the incubi who have come by asking me what it takes to seduce a Warder. Apparently, our cousins refused to put out on the first date and several of the demons have taken it as a challenge.”
Alora snerked. “They should stop trying to incorporate foreplay into a handshake for one.”
Sephany laughed. “I think they all had a good time, despite getting shot down.”
Asha grinned. “Speaking of good times, how is it having a sex demon in bed?”
Elhara thought of the previous night when he had massaged her shoulders, kissed her tenderly and held her through the night. “I can honestly say that having a sex demon in bed is one of the best things that has ever happened to me.”
She knew she had a dreamy look on her face and when her cousins elbowed each other and grinned, she knew that she was in good company. Warders in love.
Author’s Note
This is the last of the linear Warder series. I may continue to write more of the Lost Warder books (Warders who have lost their family connections due to death, divorce or abandonment). I have enjoyed this series and had fun bringing characters back from previous books including Eylonwy who first appeared in
The Warder’s Wolf
.
I thank all the Warders’ fans who have kept this series alive while I tried to gather my wits and take another stab at the most powerful and least-respected family in all of Realm.
Thanks for your patience.
Viola Grace
http://www.devinedestinies.com
About the Author
Viola Grace was born in Manitoba, Canada where she still resides today. She really likes it there. She has no pets and can barely keep sea monkeys alive for a reasonable amount of time. Her line of day job tends to be analytical which leaves her mind hopping to weave stories. No co-worker is safe from her character analysis. In keeping with busy hands are happy hands, her hobbies have included cross-stitch, needlepoint, quilting, costuming, cake decorating, baking, cooking, metal work, beading, sculpting, painting, doll making, henna tattoos, chain mail, and a few others that have been forgotten. It is quite often that these hobbies make their way into her tales.
Viola’s fetishes include boots and corsetry, and her greatest weakness is her uncontrollable blush. Her writing actively pursues the Happily Ever After that so rarely occurs in nature. It is an admirable thing and something that we should all strive for. To find one that we truly like, as well as love.